OPTIMIZATION OF CHIRAL TRIDENTATE FERROCENYL LIGANDS FOR ASSYMETRIC

Work package:
The synthesis of enantiopure compounds is very important for the pharmaceutical industry, materials science and agriculture. The study of catalysts that provide high enantioselectivity and productivity is thus of great interest, of which catalysts based on transition metals have proven to be extremely versatile and competent systems in different types of reactions. Due to the need for greener processes and a more responsible use of natural resources, the first-row non-noble transition metals that are more abundant, less costly and less toxic have drawn more and more attention. Our group develops ligands which participate in enantioselective catalysis with these non-noble transition metals, and we are particularly interested in the synthesis of chiral ferrocenes with a phosphine functional group. Recently, we have developed a new promising ferrocenyl PN(H)N ligand family which shows interesting performances in the manganese-catalyzed asymmetric ketone hydrogenation [1] and transfer hydrogenation.[2] We are now exploring by DFT calculations the influence of ligand structure variations on the hydrogenation of various ketones. The aim of this project is to synthesize the best calculated structures and to test them in the asymmetric hydrogenation reactions. An involvement in the calculations is also possible if desired. This internship will provide extensive training in organic and organometallic syntheses, in the characterization of compounds (NMR, MS, XRD,etc), in asymmetric catalysis and possibly in computational chemistry.